As Long As It's About Me
by zukosaurus
Summary: It was a nice day, as far as a day at school can go, apart from Emo Boy in her chemistry class. And sitting across the cafeteria at lunch. Staring at her. Who cares if she was staring at him first, he wasn't supposed to look back! AU, Zutara.
1. Chapter 1

UPDATE: I'm combining chapters to make them seem longer lol. _

I had this story under the same name on (lol exactly) a long time ago. They liked it, so here. All the ages are the same as they were in the show. (So Toph and Aang are in middle school)

If you read this while it was on Nick, it's edited but the story only starts to change from how it was after a few chapters. Also this story might actually have an ending lol. And maybe Zuko will be in character. Probably not. And if the last names/school names/settings are the same as anyone elses' fanfictions, it's unintentional and I'm sorry.

NOW ONTO THE COMPLETELY ORIGINAL SETTING AND STORYLINE WOOO~~

* * *

As Katara entered the main gates of her private school, OmaShu Academy, she searched the bleachers for her best friends, Suki and Yue. It was the first day, and as always, they had the stupid "Welcome!" sign hanging above the gates and Mr. Roku, the principal, standing in front of the bleachers directing everyone to sit for the 'first day of school yay woo-hoo' assembly. A flash of white appeared in the corner of Katara's vision, and she saw Yue waving her over from her seat in the bleachers.

Sitting down, Katara asked, "Where's Suki?"

"With your brother," Yue replied, pointing to where the pair stood, Sokka obviously trying to flirt and Suki obviously trying to leave without being rude. Katara made an 'ugh' noise and changed the subject.

"Any interesting new kids this year?"

"Over there," Yue pointed again to a group consisting of Ty Lee, a popular cheerleader and gymnastics freak, Mai, some goth girl who somehow became friends with Ty Lee, and a girl and a boy she didn't recognize. The chick looked totally scary, like she was about to step on kittens and eat babies, but at the same time eerily calm, as if she was trying to lure children into her white van with promises of puppies and candy. The boy was a total emo kid, complete with the black hoodie and skinny jeans, but seemed as though he didn't know it. His black hair hung in his face, partly covering some giant red mark over his left eye, and he just stood there awkwardly next to the trio like he felt like he was interrupting something. Mai was eyeing him like a piece of meat; Katara decided that they would be going out within the week.

A bell sounded and everyone scrambled to get a seat next to their friends. Katara heard a "no room for you, Zuzu" off in the distance and saw Emo Boy scowling at the three girls; the scary girl had blocked the remaining seat with her purse so he would have to find somewhere else to sit. A long chain of swear words spewed from Emo Boy's mouth as he stomped away. Thankfully, Suki and Yue had both taken their seats on either side of Katara so she didn't have to worry about this Negative Ned claiming a spot beside her and infecting her friends with his gloominess.

Mr. Roku started to speak, and before long (really 'after long', the assembly lasted 2 long hours), Katara was seated in her first period class, which happened to be chemistry. Oh joy. Even better news, Emo Boy had decided to take a seat next to her. (Well actually she sat next to him, but she had no other choices because she was late…But let's worry about technicalities later..) But whatever, Katara wasn't one to judge people by the clothes they wear or what they look like. He's probably a nice guy. And so after having this thought, Katara greeted him with nothing less than a 'I just went to Disney World' (and who doesn't love Disney World) grin.

"Hey, what's your name?" Katara's voice was chipper. Emo Boy turned and stared at her for a minute, like he didn't know if she was talking to him or not. "Well, do you have a name?"

"Zuko," he said bluntly, then turned back to his notebook, scribbling aimlessly.

"My name's Katara," she said. He didn't look at her again. She continued, "So I saw you standing with those girls Mai and Ty Lee this morning, but who was that scary girl?" Katara laughed a little, maybe humor would make it less awkward.

"That was my sister." Zuko mumbled, not really sounding angry, but not too happy either.

"Oh," was all Katara could think to say. So much for not being awkward. "Uh…what's her name?"

"Azula." Zuko said.

"Does your mother know 'Azula' means 'blue girl' in Spanish?" Now Katara was just spouting random facts to fill the silence.

"I don't know."

"You should ask her." The blue eyed girl pressed.

"She's dead." Katara almost laughed at that. Not that his mother was dead; she knew what that was like; but the way he just said it. So monotonous, so blunt. Like something that would happen in a sitcom between two teenagers who were just not made to talk to one another. But it was time to be serious. She had to sit next to this kid for the rest of the year.

"Um….I'm sorry...I lost my mother too. A long time ago," she admitted.

"Awesome." Zuko said.

"I..you-wait WHAT?" But Emo Boy put his headphones on and pulled his hood over his face and appeared to sleep for the rest of class. It was going to be a long year.

* * *

The next morning, Katara began to get dressed in her school uniform, which consisted of an ugly loose-fitting powder blue polo shirt with the school emblem embroidered on the breast pocket, tucked into a drab gray pleated skirt that almost reached her knees, which were partially covered by plain white knee socks. She decided to throw on the (still ugly) navy blue cardigan that came with her uniform to cover up the hideousness. Thankfully the school didn't care what shoes the students wore, as long as they weren't enormously tall and dangerous high heels.

Yesterday was a nice day, as far as a day at school can go, apart from Emo Boy in her chemistry class. And sitting at lunch across the cafeteria. Staring at her. Who cares if she was staring at him first, he wasn't supposed to look back! And what was he even doing in chemistry? A junior should be in a more advanced science class than a sophomore! Katara glared into the mirror as she started to braid her curly hair, then deciding it was too much work to try to sift through the tangled mess and left her hair to hang, only bothering to accessorize with her mother's necklace. She quickly glanced in the mirror- not that she was looking to impress anyone- before heading downstairs to breakfast.

Sitting at her seat in her first hour, she waited for the bell to ring while contemplating her place in the universe. It was then that Katara decided she would be friends with this Zuko, whether he liked it or not. She would have to sit with him every single day in this class, and it would be nice if they could at least have nice conversations, especially when the seat arrangement was also "THIS WILL BE YOUR CHEMISTRY PARTNER FOREVER, NO EXCEPTIONS!"

"Hello," the brunette greeted cheerfully as Emo Boy plopped in his seat. He had tried to keep his 'swagga' even within the confines of the uniform, the blue polo shirt untucked, his hair all askew, his gray pants wrinkled. Zuko simply looked at her as he sat down. "How was your first day of school?"

"Fine," Emo Boy replied robotically.

"Did you make any new friends?"

"No."

"Did you join any clubs?" Katara was persistent. And he had no hood to pull over his face this time, ha!

"No."

"Well, what do you do for fun?"

"Nothing."

"That can't be true," she squinted at him with her blue eyes. "Everyone does something-"

"Katara, what's so important that you need to be talking during my class?" Mr. Pakku reprimanded. Katara evidently hadn't heard the bell ring.

"Oh! I'm so sorry Mr. Pakku, I must have been distracted." Mr. Pakku nodded and turned back to the chalkboard.

Zuko was still looking at her. She stuck her tongue out at him. He gave her the finger. She gave it right back. That wasn't to say she wasn't still going to be friends with him, of course she was. She was Katara. She was friends with everybody.

Eventually lunch time rolled around, and the blue eyed girl made her way through the cafeteria they shared with the middle school. Lunch tray in hand, Katara had almost reached the table she and her friends usually sat at, when something caught her eye. Zuko was sitting at a table, alone, black hoodie back on, doing homework. She waved slightly to her friends, and walked toward Emo Boy.

"That hoodie is going to get confiscated if they see you with it." Katara informed, sitting across from the sullen boy.

"What are you, the fashion police?" Zuko grumbled, looking up at the intruder.

"Actually, I wanted to ask if you'd like to sit with me and my friends at our table," she smiled as she spoke. Zuko just narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not that stupid," he spat.

"What do you mean?"

"I've been a new kid before, I know when someone's making fun of me and pretending to invite me to things, or pretending to ask me out, or pretending to be my friend," Zuko said bitterly, slamming his textbook shut and getting up. Katara started to rise too.

"Zuko, I wouldn't do that, I just want-" she began to protest.

"Sorry it didn't work." He started to stalk out of the cafeteria, walking too fast for Katara to catch up. Instead, she stomped her foot on the ground.

"ZUKO, WE ARE GOING TO BE BEST FRIENDS, YOU HEAR ME? BY THE END OF THIS WEEK WE WILL BE THE BEST OF FRICKIN' FRIENDS WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT DAMMIT!" Katara shrieked after him, still stamping her foot like an angry bull.

The cafeteria was dead quiet for the first time in at least a century.

* * *

Idk why fanfic writers always make school uniforms cute. The only time I've seen cute school uniforms are in anime. And most fan fictions are based somewhere in the US and almost every uniform-wearing school in the US is ugly. Also I decided against "o Zuko wears red bcuz he's from the fire nation n Katara wears bl00 bcuz she's wutter tribe n Toph wears gr33n bcuz erth kingdom ppl wear gr33n."


	2. Chapter 2

AnnaAza- I've never been to a school with uniforms but the Catholic school around here has uniforms and all their pants are like really high waisted and their socks/ankles always show LOL

UUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHH SCHOOL STARTS WEDNESDAY WHYYYYY

* * *

The rest of the day went too slow for comfort; everyone stared at Katara everywhere she went. Returning to her lunch table was especially awkward. No one knew what to say, until Toph spoke up.

"Nice announcement, Sugar Queen," she had said, and promptly punched Katara in the arm.

Dinner that night was fun too, as Sokka had retold the tale with great enthusiasm in front of their father and grandmother. Katara dreaded going to school the next day, but eventually the next morning came.

"What do you want, Jet?" Katara said as she closed her locker. The other boy had appeared next to her while she was putting her books away.

"I head on the grapevine that you and the new kid are an item," Jet replied smugly, raising his pointy eyebrows suggestively.

"Jet, you're the one who made up that rumor, you heard it from yourself."

"Why would I do that?"

"Probably because you've asked me out every week since 8th grade and I've rejected you every time?" Katara asked sarcastically, shrugging her shoulders. Jet scowled at her. "Don't point your eyebrows at me like that, it's not my fault you've had a criminal record since you were eleven and I don't want to get involved."

"Stealing a candy bar from Walmart is not a criminal record." Jet countered.

"Yeah well selling drugs at the park after school doesn't help your case either." Katara glanced at the clock, "I'm going to be late."

"I'll pick you up tonight at eight."

"You say that like you're kidding but every time you say it I see a car that looks suspiciously like yours' driving past my house right on time," she said, walking away.

When Katara walked into the classroom, Zuko was sitting in his usual spot (duh), staring down at his notebook.

"Hi Zuko," Katara greeted. Zuko grunted in response and scooted his chair farther away from her. She rolled her eyes. Eventually the bell rang, and Mr. Pakku appeared in front of the chalkboard.

"Class, it's time for this year's first project." Zuko sighed. Mr. Pakku looked at him, but continued, "It will be a poster depicting any topic found in our textbooks," Zuko sighed louder. Mr. Pakku looked annoyed, "You will work with your partner, which is the person seated right next to you." Zuko threw his head back and let out a very loud and audible displeased moan. Katara's eye twitched. A couple of kids laughed. Mr. Pakku looked like he was ready to pop, but finished speaking. "It will be due next Wednesday. You have the rest of class to work on it."

"You can do this yourself, right?" Zuko asked, still not turning toward Katara.

"How can you even suggest that? I'm not doing your homework for you!" Katara replied angrily. Zuko leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"I'm not asking you to do my work, I'm asking you to pretend that I'm not here so you don't have a partner. I don't want to work with you, you're weird."

"I'm weird? I'm not the one who flat out refuses to have any friends at all- speaking of which, I refuse to accept that!"

"I know. The whole school knows after you screamed it at me in the cafeteria, remember? Now I'm associated with you." Zuko said, finally looking at his fuming classmate.

"Well maybe that wouldn't have happened if you had stayed and listened to logic instead of running away like a big dumb baby!" Katara argued, putting her hands on her hips.

"Whatever. When will you be done with the poster?"

"I told you I'm not going to do it by myself, we're working together."

"Yeah, right."

* * *

Days and the weekend and some more days rolled by and they still hadn't even started on the project. Both were too stubborn to start the poster themselves, and Zuko refused to give up his lunch or study hall to go work on it with his partner. Eventually it was Tuesday, and the poster was due tomorrow.

Katara approached Zuko at lunch for the first time since her outburst, and leaned over the table. She reached over, pulled Zuko's earbuds out, and spoke.

"Zuko. We haven't started the poster yet," Katara sat down across from him.

"I didn't notice," Zuko said, rolling his eyes.

"What are we going to do? It's due tomorrow. We need to do it after school. Today. I will not have my first Chemistry assignment be late. My grade will drop to an F, and I don't believe in failing grades."

"And my dad said if I ever get an F, he'll stop paying my tuition and I'll have to go back to living with him."

"So…I'll come over after school?" Katara suggested. Zuko sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"I guess so, I'll meet you at your locker after school and I'll drive us to my apartment." Katara's mouth went agape.

"Wait, you think I'll just go into your car with you? You'll probably tie me up and throw me in the trunk and sell my organs on the black market!" she protested, her voice raising to a shout. Zuko stared at her incredulously.

"Whatever, walk then. I live like 20 miles away, good luck." He wrote his address on a piece of paper and put it on the lunch table before getting up and walking away.

"Sokka, I need a ride to Zuko's house," Katara said as she and her brother walked to his big blue van. Sokka opened his mouth to say something, but his little sister cut him off, "For a project. We're making a poster for Chemistry."

"Are you going to be supervised by a trusted adult?"

"How should I know?" Katara asked.

"I don't think you should just go to this guy's house, he seems like a creeper." Sokka shrugged.

"We're just doing homework."

"That's what they all say, then five months later you'll have a bun in the oven and before you know it, little Kataras and baby Zukos will be running around and let me tell you, I will not be the babysitter!" Katara blushed, her eyes wide.

"How can you say that? I would never-"

"Sorry Katara, I don't support this so you'll have to find another way to get to your boyfriend's house." Sokka apologized, shaking his head.

* * *

Katara reluctantly searched the parking lot for her science partner, ignoring Jet's whistle and eyebrow-wiggle. Eventually she found who she was looking for; Zuko was in the process of unlocking the door to a beat-up, rusty red car that looked like the seatbelts would be little more than pieces of yarn. Zuko smirked at the approaching girl. Smoke seemed to rise from Katara's ears, her face tomato colored. The nerve of Emo Boy, smiling like he thought he was a real cool guy.

Being in a car with Zuko driving had to be the single most terrifying experience of Katara's young life. If speeding along at 90 miles an hour (in a 25 mile per hour area) wasn't bad enough, Zuko also seemed to have a serious case of road rage. This is including, but not limited to, flipping off an 85 year old woman and screaming obscenities for stopping at a stop sign for too long, screaming "LEARN HOW TO DRIVE YOU DUMB CUNT" at a soccer mom and her two young children for not driving ten miles over the speed limit, and running through stoplights because "THEY'RE NOT MY MOTHER THEY DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO."

Upon arriving in the parking lot for the apartment in which Zuko and his uncle lived, Katara leaped out of the car and fell to her knees, hugging the pavement as if she was a mountain climber who had just reached the summit of Mount Everest. She whirled around at the sound of Zuko closing the car door behind him.

"I'm never getting in a car with you ever again!" Katara screeched.

The two teens entered the apartment and immediately went toward the refrigerator, like normal people do. Zuko noticed the alphabet magnets on the refrigerator door were formed into a message. It said "working late, don't burn the house down (: ," obviously written by Uncle Iroh. Zuko would never put a smiley face or attempt humor or use his childhood refrigerator magnets to write notes instead of just sending his uncle a text.

"Where's the posterboard and markers?" Katara asked suddenly. Oops.

"Uh….."

"You invite me over to make a poster and you have nothing to make it with?"

"I'll just drive to Walmart and get the posterboard and paint, it's just down the street."

"Paint?" Katara raised her eyebrow, "You want to use paint?"

"Uh, yeah, markers are stupid." Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Uh, yeah, no they're not. Paint is too messy," the blue eyed girl argued, putting her hands on her hips.

"Markers are for little kids, I'm not buying markers."

"Markers are more practical than waiting five hours for the paint to dry!"

"I'm getting paint. Just wait here, I'll be back in like ten minutes." Zuko turned to leave, waving her away with his hand/

"No, I'm coming with you to make sure you buy markers instead of paint!" Katara stamped her foot and started to follow. Zuko turned around and held up a hand to say 'stop.'

"Just sit on the couch and watch TV, I'm not letting you ruin my poster!" Zuko said, pointing to the comfy-looking black leather couch in the living room. He turned and started to walk toward the door, but was stopped by a 14 year old girl tackling him from behind.

"I'M COMING WITH, AND WE'RE GETTING MARKERS." Katara demanded, yanking at Zuko's black emo hair.

The drive was surprisingly quiet; Katara just stared out the window, noticing a flashing sign that said, "CAUTION- OUT OF ORDER" above the train-crossing sign. It was quiet, that is, until Zuko made the mistake of speaking again.

"I hope the paint is cheap."

"Markers." Katara corrected.

"I'm not buying markers." Zuko protested, "It's my money."

"The paint is going to warp the paper and it'll be ugly and we'll have a bad grade," Katara countered, "so we're using markers."

"Paint." Zuko looked at her.

"PAINT IS STUPID!" Katara yelled.

"MARKERS ARE CHILDISH!" Zuko yelled back.

Katara glared at him, then glanced at the road after hearing a strangely loud whistling noise, then looked at him again, but did a double take back at the street and wanted to shriek in alarm, but all that came out was, "YOU SUCK AT DRIVING!"

Zuko moaned and made a face that was somewhere between "I'M ABOUT TO DIE OH MY GOD" and "OH MY GOD I JUST PEED MYSELF." This reaction was logical of course, you would do the same thing if you were speeding at 90 miles per hour and about to slam into the side of a train.

* * *

LOL There is lots of capslock in this chapter. BD


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the long wait, I've been gone.

The person who said Katara is more mature- I think Katara is pretty immature when someone disagrees with her or she doesn't get her way, like the first episode when she cracked open the ice with Aang in it because she was yelling at Sokka, or when Aang turned out to be a naturally good waterbender, and when Toph kept scamming everyone in that town, to name a few times. _

* * *

Katara yanked the steering wheel and jerked it toward her as far as she could, causing the car's wheels to shriek and squeal as it turned sharply to the right, slamming into a tree off the side of the road. This, of course, was still a very bad situation, but Katara had quickly decided she'd rather damage the shrubbery than get decapitated by a train. Especially on a road with no other houses or cars in sight. They were alone on this street. Whoever was conducting the train couldn't have noticed, since they decided to hit the tree instead.

Upon the heavy impact, the airbags (Katara honestly didn't expect Zuko to have airbags while the seatbelts barely worked) went off with a loud pop, although Zuko's side seemed to lag for a few crucial seconds. The blue eyed girl cringed inwardly at the sound of Zuko's forehead hitting the windshield, hearing the glass crack even further, before his airbag could help him. She was then unconscious for the briefest of moments, awaking to Zuko's voice.

"I'm okay….I'm okay…." he was saying breathlessly, examining himself for injuries, wiggling his fingers then his toes to make sure they were there and that all his limbs still functioned. "We're okay…right..?" Zuko turned toward her, lifting up her arm to check that it was still attached to her torso. Okay yes, it was still there; he nodded to himself, satisfied. There would be no vegetables tonight.

Katara's mouth opened in surprise when she saw his face, and she put her free hand up to her own forehead, "Zuko, your forehead is, like.. your brains are just going to leak out between the cracks if you keep moving, stay still." She pushed him back into his seat. "I'm going to call for help. Just stay in the car, I'll be right outside."

Zuko frowned but didn't stop Katara from crawling into the backseat of the totaled car and opening the mostly-functioning back doors. Seconds after she had left the vehicle, confident it wasn't about to blow up into five hundred billion pieces that would kill everyone, and had flipped open her cell phone, a hand covered hers and flipped it back shut. Katara gasped, seeing Zuko in front of her, swaying a little as he stood. "I told you to stay in the car! You can't just smash your face open and then get up and walk around with brain matter falling out!" Katara turned her back to him and flipped her phone open again, shrugging his hand off of her when he tried to spin her around back toward him.

"We can call my friend June, she works in this bar-slash-tattoo parlor thing, she'll know what to do. Do you have like $500 we can pay her with..?"

"Zuko! I'm calling an ambulance, not a tattoo artist! Just sit down, and be quiet before you start to die!"

"Don't worry about it, I'm-" There was a 'plop' and Katara turned around with wide eyes, dropping her cell phone on the grass next to where the older boy had fallen. He was unconscious. She knelt down and put her hand under his nose, making sure breath was still going through there. Remembering her first aid training, she took off her sweater and put it under his head, using it as a pillow. Then she struggled to flip Zuko on his side so he wouldn't be able to choke on any puke and die. Satisfied he wouldn't be dying anytime soon, Katara used this opportunity to finally call for help.

* * *

Eventually an ambulance and a bunch of police cars arrived (Katara wondered why police officers always liked to follow ambulances and fire trucks, didn't they have donuts to go eat?) and Katara insisted she didn't need to go to the hospital, but the paramedics badgered her into it, making her worry with stories about the guy who broke his neck on Monday and didn't find out until Wednesday when he accidentally tapped the back of the car in front of him, and his head pretty much just fell off. Needless to say, Katara liked her head where it was, and decided to go see a doctor. She'd probably have to tell her father what happened as well. Which meant she'd never be allowed to leave the house again after this 'near death experience.'

* * *

When Zuko awoke, to his dismay, he found himself in a hospital bed, with a bandage wrapped around his head and an IV needle stuck into his arm. A few moments later, Katara walked in nonchalantly, nomming on a chocolate chip cookie. Mmmm, hospital food. Zuko flew off the bed to grab Katara's shoulders, shaking her. The cookie dropped to the floor. Katara glared at its crumbled remains and pushed the older boy off of her.

"That was the last non-oatmeal raisin cookie in the cafeteria," she grumbled angrily.

"Why did you call 911?"

"Are you retarded? You could have died!" Katara said, not believing that he could seriously be that stupid. Zuko groaned, smacking himself on the forehead, which turned out to be a bad idea what with the newly stitched up wound there.

"Ugh, whatever, did anyone come in to see me besides a short grey-haired jolly-looking old guy?" he asked.

"I don't know, I've been across the hall in my own little room until like an hour ago. What does it matter if you had visitors?" Zuko groaned again, dragging his hand across his face.

"Because if they looked at my emergency information, which they did, then they called my father instead of my uncle, who probably came in and saw me while I was sleeping, and then he'll pretend he was never here and will have the hospital call my uncle, and then I'll go home with my uncle like normal, and everything will be fine until like two weeks in the future when we get a letter from my father's lawyer saying I have to go back home because my uncle is an unfit caretaker or some other stupid shit that goes against 'our agreement' because he's a dick who would do that," he explained, taking a deep breath, "Do you get it now?" He looked over at Katara, who was nodding but still looked as though she didn't really understand.

"Why can't you live with your dad again?" the blue-eyed teen questioned, looking back at the pitiful carcass of the once delicious chocolate chip cookie laying upon the clean white hospital floor. She bent over to pick up the mess, looking at the cookie sadly before throwing it into the empty puke bucket-slash-garbage beside the bed.

"Don't worry about it. The point is, you messed up my life."

"I messed up your life…by saving your life…?" Katara had to laugh at that notion, "Ooookaaay, if that's how you feel. Anyway, the reason why I came in here in the first place was to make sure you were still alive. I'm about to leave with my dad. I'll see you at school, and that poster better be done by Monday, since you ruined our attempt last night."

"Yeah, whatever. Get out of my room," Zuko scowled, turning around as he was about to go sit back on the bed.

"Uh huh. By the way, nice ass." She waved at him, smirking, before closing the door behind her.

"_Nice ass,_" Zuko repeated in that annoying mocking voice that mostly 2nd graders use when talking back to their parents. "What does that even…" he trailed off, his eyes widening when he remembered that he was wearing a hospital gown, and that hospital gowns open in the back. Zuko looked down, panicked, then felt relief when he saw the shorts-shaped cloth and knew that the 'nice ass' comment hadn't meant anything sinister after all. Then the relief turned to hatred when he realized that the shorts-shaped cloth was actually his rubber ducky boxers. _Thanks, Uncle, _he thought, rolling his eyes, _now I'll finally be popular at school._

Coincidentally, upon having this thought, the door opened and none other than Uncle Iroh stood in the doorway with his own cookie and a mug full of tea. Zuko frowned at him and gestured to his embarrassing choice of dress. However, Iroh ignored the bitter look and (gingerly) set the cookie and tea mug down on the table and rushed forward to crush his nephew in a bone-crunching embrace. Zuko gasped like a dying fish and flailed his arms uselessly, trying to escape the hug. Eventually Iroh released him and patted his nephew on the head, smiling.

"I thought I told you not to die in a car crash!"

"The note on the fridge only said to not burn the house down.." Zuko replied, his lips forming into his own version of a smile. He didn't need to ruin the moment by expressing his parental concerns right at that moment. Though, the moment was ruined a few moments later when his uncle noticed the barely-eaten cookie resting forlornly at the bottom of the garbage can.

* * *

LOL don't take my first aid advice, I couldn't remember if you wanted blood to flow to the heart, or to the brain or what. But my health teacher did emphasize the point about turning an unconscious person onto their side, in case they get sick. Because that'd be gross. ~_~


	4. Chapter 4

**I'm such a procrastinator. D:**

**-ShinySides: I personally hate most high school fics because they make it too unrealistic and it's not like high school at all. Like the authors watched an episode of Hannah Montana and were like "WOW SO THIS IS HOW HIGH SCHOOLERS ACT."**

**-kate882: Thanks for the reviews. :D I was in the hospital like two years ago because I had my appendix removed. _**

**-Anonymous F-U-C-K-I-N-G A-M-A-Z-I-N-G person: D: That is hard to type.**

* * *

Katara didn't invite Emo Boy to sit with her at lunch that day. She didn't even want to look at him; how was she supposed to explain a detention to her father? Her perfect record, now ruined by this golden-eyed devil!

She ground her teeth as she took a seat in the classroom where the detention would be held. The blue-eyed teen looked around and all the other delinquents in the room, including Jet, some kid picking his nose, an acne-infested freshman looking at her creepily and smiling, Toph (about to throw a rock at the nose picker), and Zuko. She was happy to see Toph, but first she had to glare at the troublemaker who got her into this mess. Katara glared at him for a good 30 seconds while he stared at her blankly, and then she turned to Toph and waved, smiling. The younger girl waved back and came to sit by Katara, taking the seat next to her.

"What are you doing here? Did you get caught smokin' a doobie in your car or something?" Toph laughed, putting her feet on the desk and putting her arms behind her head like a pillow.

"Toph! You're 12 years old, you're not even supposed to know what a 'doobie' is!" the older girl hissed, "Aren't we supposed to be quiet in here or something?" The seventh grader laughed again.

"The teacher is going to be in the copy room for a pretty long time, considering how badly I messed up that machine," Toph explained, "We don't have to worry about her. Besides, my parents scare the crap out of teachers; we could get them fired, you know?"

Katara smiled at her friend, wishing her own parent could scare teachers out of giving her punishments. Then she wouldn't have to waste an hour of her time in this room. At least Zuko was suffering too. He had to be. Katara stole a quick glance back at her loathed enemy sitting in the corner of the room. To her dismay, Zuko was chatting quietly with Jet, even smiling slightly as they spoke. Jet was saying something, then laughing and pointing to Katara with his thumb. Zuko turned to look at her, and she quickly turned back to Toph, but not before she knew he knew she was looking at him. Her face burned with hatred.

"Who does he think he is?" Katara whispered harshly at the shorter girl. Toph frowned.

"What do you mean? He's minding his own business."

"He's just so…ugh- you wouldn't understand; it's complicated. First, he drives us into a tree and makes me feel bad for calling an ambulance, then I specifically tell him to do the project, and he thinks I'm kidding and doesn't do it and now look what happened!" she complained, exasperated.

"It's just detention Katara, it's not like anyone cares," Toph replied, slouching further in the desk.

"I care, because my dad's going to give me one of those 'I'm really disappointed in you' looks when I walk in the door!"

"But Sokka gets detention all the time, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's _Sokka_. I'm supposed to be the A+ student who has lots of friends and gets into Harvard and becomes a rich doctor with a nice little family and a pet dog. I've been too good of a kid to stop now, Toph, I have this reputation with adults to uphold."

The black-haired girl opened her mouth to reply, but apparently Zuko and Jet's conversation had gone sour because they were now causing a commotion in the corner. Zuko had stood up and punched Jet right in the nose. The pointy-eyebrow'd boy was holding his bleeding nose in his hands, swearing. He lunged at Zuko, throwing them both to the floor and knocking over a chair in the process.

"Dickface!" Jet shouted, slamming Zuko's face into a desk, causing the emo child to exclaim a loud "fuck!" of pain. The two teenage boys rolled along the floor, fists punching and knees kneeing and heads headbutting and all sorts of body parts doing all sorts of violent acts.

"Toph, what do we do?" Katara cried, shaking her friend by her shoulders.

"Uh…in most cases, I'd say we could just sit here and watch. But since it's after school and therefore there are much fewer teachers to come to stop the fight, I think we'd get in less trouble if we left and pretended to look for a teacher. If we stay here, we'd probably get another detention for not going to get 'the authorities.'" Toph said, scratching her head. She rose from her chair, but Katara grabbed her arm.

"So we're just supposed to run away while they fight? Shouldn't we try to stop them or some-Eeep!" The brown-haired teen yelped as she was nearly hit by a flailing fist. "Nevermind, let's go!"

* * *

**Not responsible for any 10-13 year olds asking their parents what a doobie is and getting yelled at.**


	5. Chapter 5

ALL RIGHT

Sorry I've been gone so long. _ I told you there would be big gaps between the updates.

I just condensed most of the chapters, there shouldn't be any new content within them. However, spelling or grammar mistakes may have slipped through, I didn't really edit them before reposting them.

To answer your questions, Toph is not blind in this, because I would find that inconvenient. Also, idk where you people live, but where I live a doobie is a joint, like for smoking pot. HEHEHEH. _

* * *

Somehow, the detention room supervisor had managed to fix the broken copy machine just in time to see the two fleeing teenage girls slinking out of the classroom door, just barely unnoticed. While Katara stood there like a deer in headlights, stammering 'uh…uhh…we were just…uhh…', Toph screamed like a carnivorous animal, charging toward the teacher, her fists pummeling through the air. This caught the woman off guard and obviously she stepped out of the way as to not get whammed in the face by some tiny flying fists, giving the girls time to escape, running the opposite direction. The teacher was about to call for them to 'come back immediately!', but the commotion coming from inside the classroom seemed to be a more pressing matter.

When the woman stepped into the loud classroom, she witnessed a strange sight. Jet, sporting a black eye and bloody nose, was on top of Zuko, pinning him down at the waist and shoulders. Zuko's hands, however, were smushed against the older boy's face, trying to push him away as Jet dangled a line of spit over Zuko's face. It was coming dangerously close to touching him.

"Stop it! That's cheating you stupid fuck!" The scarred teen was screeching, blood trailing down from his split lip.

"What is going on in here?" The poor, confused authority figure cried.

This caused Jet to look up, releasing Zuko from his grasp so that he would look like the more innocent one. Unfortunately for him, at this point Zuko didn't care how much trouble he got into, and promptly lunged at the other teen, knocking him to the floor and resuming the fight.

* * *

Eventually, the police had to be called because no one wanted to get in the middle of that fight, and both teens were ticketed and suspended from school, after they allegedly joined forces and tried to escape from the cops. Katara hoped they would just get expelled and that would be that; no more annoying Jet and no more emo Zuko.

Of course, nothing can ever go the way Katara wants, so she and Toph were landed in yet another detention for 'skipping' their own detention and 'attacking the faculty.'

'Whatever,' Katara thought. She supposed she at least deserved it this time, for running away from a teacher. At least Zuko and Jet would be gone this time, maybe she could even get some homework done. OH WAIT-

Katara's least favorite person-surprisingly Jet- just happened to saunter into the room at that time, glaring at the teacher before taking his seat. Right next to her. Katara scooted her desk a few inches away. Jet, noticing this, scooted closer. Katara rolled her eyes and scooted again. This time, Jet slammed his desk into Katara's, then grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up against him. The blue eyed girl eep'd, but the teacher dismissed this- she was just glad it wasn't another brawl.

"So that fight the other day was pretty manly, am I right?" He whispered in a voice that he must have thought was seductive. Katara snorted, then pushed him away.

"Is that why you lost?"

"I didn't lose," Jet scowled, "He cheated. I was going to stop but he tackled me."

"That bastard." She replied flatly.

"Anyway," the tan boy resumed, "I didn't want to fight in the first place. Zuko's just crazy. We were talking about chicks and he was all, 'quit calling my sister a slut' and I was like, 'calm down dude you hate your sister' and then he just kept getting more and more angry. I guess he must be on crack or something."

When he finished retelling the tale, Katara just looked at him. And she looked at him. And she looked at him.

"He's crazy." Jet repeated.

"Jet, I think _you're_ on crack." She said finally.

"I-"

"Whatever. Why are you back at school anyway?" Katara cut him off before he could retort.

"It was either come to detention for three weeks, or else do 20 hours of community service." Jet replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"So what did Zuko pick?" She queried.

"His uncle's a sneaky bastard and somehow convinced the judge that 'volunteering' at his teashop should count as community service." Jet snarled, disgusted that the scum of the earth got off that easily.

"A teashop, really? I didn't know there was a teashop around here," Katara said, genuinely interested. There were Starbucks, sure, but an actual family-owned and operated little café was hard to find in Ba Sing Se.

"Yeah, it just opened a few weeks ago" Jet snickered, "Zuko even has to wear an apron and say some stupid shit like 'welcome to The Jasmine Dragon, where love is brewed into every cup of tea.'"

"Hmm, a teashop.."

* * *

"Hey Toph!" Katara shouted, waving her arms at her friend. "Are you free today?"

Detention had just let out, and Toph was about to walk home- one of the few independent activities she was allowed, due to her strict parents.

"I'm never free. But my parents think you're a good influence so they'll probably let me go wherever."

"Well, I heard about this place in the Upper Ring.."

* * *

I really have no idea where this is going LOL please don't expect an actual plot.


	6. Chapter 6

**LOOK IT'S ONLY BEEN ABOUT 3 MONTHS SINCE THE LAST UPDATE!**

* * *

"The Upper Ring? That's not so far, let me just call my parents and we'll walk there." Toph took off her backpack and dug around for her cell phone (which she wasn't supposed to bring to school, Katara noted).

Katara wasn't really looking forward to seeing Zuko at this teashop, although she supposed it would be fine; after all, she had been determined to become his best friend that fateful second day of school, and she was definitely not one to give up on people. Besides, a little teashop-how cute! The brunette nearly purred aloud at the thought of homemade brownies, cookies, and cakes being served to her-by her current object of hatred, no less- as she sipped at a cup of jasmine tea at a booth in a brightly-lit café. Oh yes, Katara was a sucker for adorable eating establishments.

"They want me to prove you're with me," Toph said, rolling her eyes at her paranoid parents' attitudes, "so just say hi or something and tell them we're going to the... the teashop, or whatever. They said otherwise they're sending the limo to pick us up and make sure we get there."

Sighing, Katara took the phone from her friend, although she knew the girl's parents weren't completely out of line this time. Obviously to get to the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se you had to go through the other rings. And while the Middle Ring wasn't so bad, the Lower Ring could be a little shifty at times if one wasn't careful.

"Oh no ma'am, sending the limo won't be necessary. We wouldn't want to draw a crowd, after all. Uh huh. I'll have her home by 9:30. No problem, ma'am. Bye now," the older girl finished the phone call, and began to hand the phone back to Toph.

"BYE!" Toph yelled, loud enough for her mother to hear from the cell phone at arms length, and shut the phone quickly. "That woman needs to get a life.." she said, shaking her head slowly.

* * *

The tan girl almost squealed in delight as the pair approached the doors of The Jasmine Dragon; it was every bit as cute as she had hoped. Decorating the doorway were two golden dragon sculptures, their scaled tails intertwining near a giant green paper lantern lighting up the entrance.

Stepping inside the teashop, it got even better. There, waiting a table, was Zuko, wearing a clean lime-green apron that clashed horribly with his bright orange prison-issued denim pants and his black t-shirt.

Katara and Toph made their way to the front of the shop and ordered their drinks from the old man Katara had met at the hospital; he identified himself as Zuko's uncle, Iroh. He gave them a number and said Zuko would be with them momentarily and that they could have a seat at any they chose.

Upon hearing the common "my nephew will be out with your drinks shortly," Zuko glanced back at his uncle and caught Katara's eye instead. She gave him a little wave while his face drained of the little color it held. The girls couldn't stifle their giggle at Emo Boy's face melting into an expression of true despair.

* * *

"Uncle, I can't bring them their shit-er, stuff, they only came here to make fun of me! Can't you bring it out to them for me?" Zuko whined, fearful of his classmates' cruel remarks that they would no doubt unleash upon him if he appeared at their booth.

"Certainly not, this is part of your community service. Now go out there and serve the community!" Iroh ordered, pushing the tray toward his nephew, "besides, I can't brew the tea and bake cookies if I'm out there handling the customers."

"Can't I take care of the food, just until they leave?" Zuko moaned, grasping at straws. He knew he couldn't make tea nor bake, and he knew he had lost the argument at the look his uncle gave him. "Fine. But you just be aware that you have put my mental health into jeopardy with this."

* * *

"Welcome to the Jasmine Dragon, where our only...secret ingredient is...love..." Zuko trailed off, keeping his head down as he nearly slammed each of the cups onto the table where Katara and Toph sat, wanting to leave as soon as possible. He turned to swiftly walk away, but..

"Don't mumble now, Sparky, say the whole thing," Toph said smugly, slurping at the tea placed in front of her.

"Yeah, come on Zuko. I want to know what this place is all about," Katara agreed, munching on the delicious brownie she had been presented with.

The angry boy turned around, glaring at them and blushing furiously with embarrassment, "why are you here anyway?"

The older of the two teenage girls sipped her tea nonchalantly, "I like tea. That apron is very flattering, by the way."


End file.
